Chapters "Come on Rarity! We got to get to our seats before the finals start." Dash yelled way ahead of said purple haired girl and waving her drink around.
"Not so loud, Rainbow Dash... you're not the one whose reputation is at stake if you're seen here." She said a bit more cautiously as she carefully power walked her way over to the stands.
"How can you still feel like that after all the cool duels we've seen? I mean at first yeah but like all this stuff is so COOL I don't even care anymore." She grinned, the best part was seeing how things were coming together in most people's decks and even turning things around when they were going to lose. She did soften for a second. "Thanks for coming with me by the way... I don't think any of the other girls would have."
The two were attending a big event in the Convention hall of Canterlot. The city had been chosen to host the Regional Duel Tournament this year. An event spanning three days where some of the region's top duelists came out to compete for the title of Champion. Rainbow had gotten tickets, being a fan of the game itself and had asked Rarity along since she had said earlier that week she didn't have any plans.
"Any time, darling." Rarity said, letting go of how she could still feel like getting this secret exposed would be bad for her. She didn't really expect Rainbow Dash to understand, not for lack of trying though. Rainbow Dash was simply... not that well attuned to social status. When there was fame, glory, and... probably pyrotechnics involved, you get her attention, almost everything else matters nil. "So, this will mark the first time we've seen this Dragon Knight player, correct?"
Rainbow nodded as she was leading the way to their seats. "Yup, he's an up and comer in the duel ranks, I think he just started playing in the pros like 4 months ago and no one thought he would make it this far. He's supposed to have a ton of really strong dragon monsters. Including some really rare ones. And now he's in the finals!" She was really cheering for the guy.
"I wonder if he's one of the ones that dresses appropriately for the title he's earned for himself." Rarity said, already daydreaming a tall handsome man wearing a dragon themed knightly outfit, a billowing cape. Ah, such a wonderful fantasy.
"I haven't heard of the guy doing it, but I think he's our age." Dash shrugged as they got into their seats. "The current champ I hear does something like that though..."
"I haven't seen the current champion. Either way, this match will hopefully be quite exciting." Rarity said as she sat down, eager to watch another beautiful display.
Before Dash could reply the announcer came on the screen above the duel field. "Hey all you duel fans! Are you READY FOR THE FINALS!?" He was answered with a massive cheer from the crowd, including Dash herself. "Alright! Then join me in welcoming our regional champ!"
"The Samurai of the West!" He called as everyone cheered as a guy decked out in full samurai armor and even some damage and arrows sticking out of it with a duel disk shaped like a Japanese flag.
"You weren't kidding when you said that champion really gets into their role." Rarity said, the armor was gorgeously made, but she certainly wasn't expecting it.
"Right?" She giggled, finding it kind of ridiculous but she enjoyed the special.
"And joining him on the battlefield, a new up and comer who climbed his way through the ranks! The Dragon Knight!" The announcer motioned to the other side of the field where a boy no older than the two girls with Green hair done up in a spiky style and purple skin with clothing to match and a duel disk on his arm entered grinning at the crowd and waiving. "It's been very interesting to watch him rise through the ranks to this spot, seeing as he's just a rookie, but can he take the crown!? Who thinks he can!?" To that there where a lot of cheers and some boos from the die hard fans of the Samurai.
"So that's The Dragon Knight? He looks younger than I thought he would." Rarity said as she politely applauded her underdog amid the cheering crowd.
"I know right, though he also seems weirdly familiar... Can't say why though?" They hadn't been able to see any of his matches having focused on other ones throughout the event.
"Heh, think you can really go up against someone like me kid?" The Samurai asked in a condescending tone while drawing his hand.
"Not sure," Dragon grinned as he drew his own. "Did your mommy help you make your armor for you big day?" That got a glare from the man.
"Oh the sparks are already flying I see! Now because Dragon Knight is the challenger it means he takes the first move! Noooooow."
"Duel!" They both yelled and the projectors turned on.
Rarity shrugged "I mean, he looks like Twilight's dog. What with the purple skin and spiked green hair." She thought about it some more and frowned. "If we ever talk with him personally, you are not to tell him that I compared him to our friend's dog."
Dash giggled and agreed.
"Let's start things off big!" Spike grinned as he pulled a card from his hand. "I activate Polymerization and fuse two normal monsters in my hand," he pulled them out to show his opponent, "and form the First of the Dragons!" He pulled the fusion monster from his extra deck and slapped it onto the duel disk after the effect of the two monsters he used to fuse them swirled into each other and a massive wyrm like dragon with grey and blue scales burst out giving a mighty roar as it settled onto the field. It's ATK showed as 2700.
"Whoa! He summoned something like that on the first turn!?" Dash yelled as the boy continued.
"And since that counts as a special summon I also set one monster on the field along with two face downs to end my turn." He grinned as the three cards appeared. One side ways in the monster zones and two in the spell/trap zone.
"I wouldn't be surprised, dragons are the kind of creature to go big or go home." Rarity said with a smile, admiring the beautiful design of the creatures.
Whether or not the Samurai Champion was frowning or grinning was impossible to tell from behind his mask. What he did do was he swiftly pulled a card from his hand from his. "If you think that such a play is a bold move, then I can tell that you're already ten years too young to be challenging me. As you control a monster already from your side of the field and I do not, I may special summon Elder of the Six Samurai from my hand!" He says as he puts down the card.
A masked old man in a steam-powered palanquin burst from the pillar of light. "However, he knows his purpose. For the Elder paves the way for the younger generations." He pulls a magic card from his hand and plays it "As I use Asceticism of the Six Samurai to special summon Kagemusha of the Six Samurai from my deck." He holds his hand out to take the card as he plays the monster card in defense mode with only 400 attack, but 1800 defense it was a sturdy defense... but not one that could hold up to a dragon. From there he places down a face down monster card and a facedown card in the spell/trap zone.
"Let us see how this dance of war plays out." The second half of the Asceticism spell card went into effect and the Elder was destroyed.
"Thanks for not attacking by the way," He paused to draw "see you got to be a bit more bold when it comes to dueling dragons! I flip summon Totem Dragon into defense mode!" The card on the field flipped over to show a wood like dragon with a tribal style to it's design appeared. "Cause he's got a nice special effect. If I use him for a tribute summoning a dragon then he counts as two!" The crowd reacted with a gasp.
"Dude! We're about to see another of his powerful cards!" Dash jumped around excited.
"I sacrifice my Totem Dragon and summon White Night Dragon!" With a burst of light and a cold mist a massive dragon of pure ice emerged onto the field and gave it's own crystalline like roar as it's ATK showed 3000. "Next I activate the spell card Heavy Storm!" A massive wind kicked up from behind Dragon and swept across the field picking up both of their cards in the spell/trap zone before destroying them. "I think it's pretty obvious what it does huh?" He grinned.
Rarity was in complete and utter awe at the scale of size and the design of the dragon that he'd just summoned. It was beautiful. The Samurai however didn't even budge as the digital winds billowed his cloak.
"Got a Stone face there even in body language huh, Sam." Dragon grinned as he pulled another card from his hand. "I activate the spell card Fairy Meteor Crush and equip it to my White Knight Dragon. Now when it attacks a monster in defense position, you take the difference to your life points! Now attack!" He pointed forward as both dragons attacked one of the two monsters on the field. White Knight Dragon's cold breath destroying Kagemusha of the Six Samurai and dealing 1200 damage to Samurai. "I'll end my turn there."
"Hrmph, a formidable opponent indeed." The Samurai said as he searched through his hand for a good rebuttal, not forgetting to draw first. He grinned as he plays a spell card. Gateway of the Six Samurai as well as the spell card Six Samurai United "Time for the Samurai to start gathering, as I summon a tuner monster and synchro summon, The Legendary Samurai Shi En!" He says as a malevolent presence forces its way onto the field.
A Samurai in red armor with purple wings emerged in a blaze of darkness and as two bushido tokens were only added to the gateway, one was added to the other card. "Good luck keeping your dragons powered up. For once per turn whenever you activate a spell or trap card, Shi En can negate and then destroy that card. On top of that, if Shi En would be destroyed by any effect or battle, I can instead have another Six Samurai monster be destroyed in its place." He announced
With that he plays Grandmaster of the Six Samurai as the last card in his hand, adding another round of tokens. He spends two of them to increase Shi En's attack power from 2,500 to 3,000. "Now, serve your lord faithfully! Attack, Shi En!" He commands and the demonic samurai strikes at the White Knight Dragon, before the dragon could bite down on Shi En, the Grandmaster leapt in the way of the bite, destroying the Grand Master but saving Shi En.
"And now since the Grand Master was destroyed by the effect of Shi En, I may target one Six Samurai warrior from my graveyard and add him to my hand. Let us see how you will fare without your magic erasing dragon." The Samurai said as he drew a card from his graveyard.
Rarity shuddered from the sidelines as she watched the dragon fall. "I guess that he's the reigning champion for a reason..." She said worriedly.
The match had continued on like a clash of titans, Dragon's First of the Dragons being the only monster remaining on his side after a few of his other more powerful ones having been taken out and Samurai not having any Normal Monsters strong enough to take it out thanks to it's special effect.
Samurai Still had Legendary Six Samurai-Shi En that had been buffed with an equip spell to give it 3500 attack which let it whittle away at Dragon's Life points while his monster was in attack mode.
Dragon had a remaining of 2900 LP and Samurai had 2600, making them almost dead even and it was now Dragons turn once again. "Well I got to say Sam, it's been a heck of a match." Dragon grinned which earned him a nod from his opponent. "But I'm afraid that it ends here."
"What are you talking about? Your monster can't stand up to mine." He pointed out.
"Your right, I got nothing to make mine stronger since you wiped those out previously.... But I do still have my trap card." Dragon said as he revealed it.
If they could see his face, they would have seen Samurai's eyes widen as he backed up a step. "R-Ring of Destruction?!"
"That's right, and I attach it to my monster!" Everyone watched as what looked like a collar of grenades appeared around First of the Dragon's neck. "And when it goes off, we'll both take damage equal to its attack points!" Dragon yelled as it did so, an explosion engulfed the battlefield as both players covered themselves and their life points took the hit.
Samurai 0
After some silence for the move the announcer came back. "A-And in an incredible final move after a massive duel of twists and turns! WE HAVE A NEW CHAMPION!!"
The crowd went absolutely wild (except for Samurai's fans) and even Rarity joined in the standing ovation and the cheering.
"Dude that was so Awesome!" Dash yelled as she cheered along with the rest.
The announcer came down and went over to the two who had shaken hands in the middle of the arena. "Congratulations to our new Champion!" He took Dragon's hand and raised as the boy grinned. "The Royal Dragon Knight, Spike Emeraldfang!"
"That got the crowd to cheer more as Dash paused. "Wait... His name is Spike too?" She looked to Rarity confused.
"Co...incidence?" Rarity offered a bit weakly.
"Maybe...? Yeah it would have to be, both the ones we know are dogs right?" Dash laughed before looking at the growing crowd. "Hey! Want to get an autograph?"
"Oh Rainbow darling. If you've learned anything about show business from me, then it should at least be that you can get a lot more than just an autograph if you time it right." Rarity said with a knowing smile. "He has a fan website, right?" She asks
"Yeah, it's pretty small..." She pulled out her phone to pull up the site before her eyes widened and she giggled. "Well it was..." She showed it to Rarity and showed that it was gaining a lot more followers now.
Rarity spied one bit of information that she needed. "Alright, I got what I needed. Come on." She said, pulling Rainbow Dash into one of the side hallways, not really used a lot... but it had a vending machine. "and here is our key to having a nice time with Spike Emeraldfang." She said, gesturing to the vending machine.
"Um... Rarity, that's a vending machine...?" Dash pointed out confused as to how this would help.
"His favorite drink was noted on the website to be Enchantress Cola, once the autograph signing is over, he'll be dehydrated after a long battle and an even longer signing session. This is a back alley hallway not frequented by anyone, the perfect place to escape from almost any fan." Rarity explained with more than a bit of gusto, this was her specialty.
"So long as we don't get overbearing about being his fans, he should be perfectly fine with holding a conversation with us while we all enjoy our drinks here." She finishes with a small curtsy. "Trust me darling, it's what all those who linger in the spotlight feel."
"Yeah, just got to act cool." Dash said settling herself onto the machine with a smirk and a 'cool' look as they waited.
After sometime their wait did end as the door on the other side of the alley opened up and in came Spike with a big grin on his face. "Oh man that was fun! Still can't believe I won." He spoke mostly to himself as he went straight for the vending machine to grab a soda.
The moment that Rarity heard him speak she froze up a bit. She was determined not to squee, so she started very quietly repeating to herself. "Just be cool, he's just another boy. Just be cool, he's just another boy. Just be cool, he's just another boy." before taking another drink from the juice she got from the machine.
Spike blinked as he finally noticed the two and his eyes shot wide. "Oh no.... What are they doing here!?" He thought to himself not expecting to see these two of all people.
Rainbow the other hand was doing her best to keep herself contained, that being barely, as she burst into fan mode. "Dudeyouwheresocoolwithallthedragonsandyourmovesandand!" She jumped around for a moment, speeding up a few times. "Can we get a picture or two!?"
Spike popped his can, still a bit stunned. "Uh...." He actually did catch everything she said thanks to being around Pinkie so much. He was just still processing who was in front of him right now.
Rarity was so relieved that it was Rainbow that broke first as she gently put a hand on Rainbow's shoulder. "What my friend was trying to say was that she admires your play style. Even I must admit, you have a manner of charisma when it comes to dueling." she clarifies calmly, beating back her shyness with a mental broom.
Spike gave a bit of a nervous chuckle and a blush. "Heh, um thanks, that means a lot coming from yooOOU wanted some pics?" He quickly changed the subject as he literally almost blurted out something he really wanted to avoid.
Dash didn't even notice as she shot over to him. "Yeah! Hold still!" She grinned as she took a few selfies with him. Which he had no problem posing for.
Rarity gave her a look. "Oh come on Rainbow Dash, show some restraint. He's just been through a lot of fans doing the same. I'm sure some nice normal talk would be appreciated."
"You're welcome to take a few too." Spike offered. He was debating on if he wanted to bail on the talk or not....
Rarity flustered and began mumbling about she couldn't possibly, before quickly zipping over and taking a quick picture, a very quiet and very excited "Thank youuuu." Escaped her, flustering her even more. Only to be interrupted by a ping from the group chat. She looked to Rainbow immediately having expected her to have uploaded pictures of Spike to it. But she wasn't texting...
Rarity looked at the message.
Sunset: Hey, Princess Twilight just wrote to me saying that she hasn't seen Spike, any one know if he came through the portal recently?
Rarity raised an eyebrow at that as she looked back to Rainbow Dash. The coincidence from earlier creeping back into her mind.
Rainbow giggled seeing the message too. "I think we would have noticed another Purple pup walking around." She missed Spike's sudden stiffening of slight fear.
"Yeah... purple... pup." Rarity said before clearing her throat. "So, just a... just a..." Rarity couldn't get the idea out of her head, but the only thing stopping her was her mortification at saying someone she looks up to looks like a dog...
"Well it's been really nice meeting you girls!" Spike said quickly as he backed up to leave. "Thanks for the support and I'm glad you enjoyed the show, and it was lovely taking pictures with you Dash, Rarity. Have a good one!" With that he turned to leave very quickly.
"Aw... I wanted to hang more..." Dash said as he was walking away.
Rarity at that point thought for a moment. "Spike... how did you know my name? We never got a chance to introduce ourselves." She said, just as he was about to start leaving. "I mean... I'm flattered but, I don't even post anything on fan media."
"Um... Uh..." He paused in step not looking back as he tried to think fast. "Cause...." He spun around. "You guys are the Rainbooms! You've got a good few followers online too and your music is good." He wasn't lying, Twilight did set up the page with all their names and posted to it occasionally. "I recognized you from there." He laughed nervously.
Rainbow looked excited. "Wait! So famous people know about us!?" She asked excitedly.
Rarity looked excited as well, albeit her heart was fluttering a bit too much to speak. The Dragon Knight knew their band?! This was too much.
"Anywaaaaay.... Bye!" And he bolted, having avoided a very awkward situation.
"Darn... Why'd he have to bolt like that... I wanted to ask if we could bring him to our next gig?" Dash grumbled looking back to Rarity. "Still, that's super cool that he knows about us! The others are gonna flip!" She grinned.
"No kidding! Wait... I can't be excited until you say it, agh!" Rarity lamented her need to keep this a secret.
Dash grinned as she threw her arm over Rarity shoulder. "See that's why you shouldn't care about stuff like your image and stuff." She giggled.
"At this point, I'm really starting to think it might be worth it to come clean." Rarity despaired, but at least she knew that one of her idols liked their music.
Author's Note
Sorry that the first chapter's duel was cut off a bit, I'm getting used to writing duels so this one isn't great
"So... this is a good thing?" Sunset asked after Rainbow got through her super happy explanation of what she had learned from the tournament.
Dash gave her a look of aghast. "Are you kidding!? He's the new champ AND he knows us! That could be a big boost for us!"
"But of course, if he's become an up and coming star then him even mentioning us will rocket us forward." Rarity answered as Applejack gave her a look "We're in Canterlot, how can anything big happen here?" and Pinkie just cleared her throat before acting normal again, there was the briefest of gestures towards Sunset, but it vanished fast.
"Because!! He's the Regional Champion! Meaning he's the champion of the whole Region and he's supposed to be a local!" Rainbow explained. "That's going to bring attention to the town for sure! Plus this is also the town where all the weirdest stuff keeps happening, so it's a bit bigger than you think." She grinned.
"What was this guys name again?" Sunset asked shaking her head but grinning anyway.
Rarity almost answered but kept her mouth shut at the last second before she answered. "Yes, Rainbow dear, what was his name again?" She asked Rainbow instead while Applejack's look of incredulity turned into one of suspicion that Rarity was hiding something.
"Spike EmeraldFang, the Dragon Knight!" She grinned, getting why Rarity stopped. "He's a bit younger than us.. Oh! I've got a pic!" She pulled out her phone to show one of the selfies that she took with him, making sure to choose one of the ones that didn't have Rarity in the frame at all.
"He... looks a bit familiar, don't he?" Applejack asked, wondering why he looked so similar to someone... or something... then Pinkie just bounded over "He looks like Twilight's dog, Spike. Doesn't he?" She asked
Dash laughed. "Yeah we thought the same thing too when we saw him in the match. It was even weirder when you texted us about Princess Twilight not being able to find her Spike, but look at him, he's human." She pointed out.
"Yeah, I don't think you can control the way you look after crossing over from the portal..." Sunset took a more close look at the at the picture. "Still, there's a fair amount of similarities..."
"Who knows? Maybe this is her Spike and he just found a long forgotten relic that once belonged to the princesses that allows him to control his form in other worlds instead of whatever form that world would impose on him." Pinkie said going into full theory mode.
Rarity and Applejack just blinked "Can... can that even happen?" she asked and Rarity shrugged.
Rainbow Dash recognized what she was talking about, it was a game reference.
Before Dash could say anything, Sunset cut her off. "You mean like the Moon Pearl from Link to the Past?" She asked finding Pinkie's theory to be pretty solid. She blinked as that got her looks. "What? It's been one of my favorite games since I came here." She shrugged. "But still, that's something we should be able to find pretty easily, it's not like its going to be something small and hard to see..." She went back to examining the pic, and saw something. "Hey, what's that?" She asked holding it out for the others. She was pointing at something around his neck.
"Huh, looks like a pendent..." Dash said, it was a small golden dragon figure clutching a small red pearl like object in its claws.
"That..." Rarity said "It's a pearl alright... I can't believe I didn't notice it when we- I- I mean when Rainbow Dash first showed me the picture." She said trying to save herself. Applejack wasn't buying any of it. "Well regardless, think we should tell Princess Twilight?"
"I don't know... It feels like it would be easier to just ask the guy? Cause if we're wrong that just get's the little dragon in trouble for no reason right?" Sunset offered.
"Yeah, that's true." Rarity mentioned "In that case, Rainbow Dash. Next time you see him, think you could ask?"
"I can send him a message on Social Media, turns out we're mutuals." She grinned already typing it up. "Aaaand Sent!"
Back in Twilight's castle Spike suddenly got a vibration that made him shake. "Spike? Everything okay?" Twilight asked him confused as she and Starlight looked at him oddly for the sudden action.
"Heh, yeah, just a rumble in my stomach. I'm gonna go get a snack!" He ran off.
"What was that about?" Starlight asked as she watched the small dragon run off.
"No idea, but he's been acting odd for a while now..." Twilight shrugged before going back to reading up on what she and Starlight where studying.
Spike got to his room and pulled out the small phone, that kept it's connection thanks to the open portal. "What was that abou- Oh good...." He grumbled seeing Dash's request for a meet up. After a moment of thinking he shrugged and replied. "Sure, I have a few interviews two days from now, can meet up then."
"We've got a meeting!" Rarity said as everyone was looking over Rainbow's shoulder, she was far too excited about meeting Spike than she should've been for someone uninterested in the game.
"Hey that was my line!" Dash giggled before replying back to him and setting up where to meet up.
"Wow, didn't think that would be that easy...?" Sunset blinked not getting a bit more suspicious. "So.... What do we do if it is him?" She asked curiously.
"Wonder why he hasn't told Twilight yet, probably." Applejack says a bit sternly.
"I still think it's nuts but hey, weirder stuff has happened." Dash shrugged as she got a notification. "Says to meet up with him at the mall on Saturday, he'll talk with us right after his interview."
"Sounds like a plan alright." Applejack says and Rarity smiles, already looking forward to it.
Come Saturday, the girls got to hang around as Spike finished his interview in the game shop, thanks to this being an early interview it was before the mall was opening up so they got in early along with him. It mostly consisted of questions of how he felt during the duel, questions from viewers submitted online, and how he felt being the new champ coming from a smallish town like Canterlot City. After that was over they had their run of the place.
"Hey! Sorry about the long wait, everyone didn't get to make it?" Spike asked as he got over to them. He was wearing a dark purple hoodie vest with green lining along with a light green under shirt with some black flames around the stomach and a pair of long black pants. Around his neck was the same pendent they saw in the picture.
"Twilight's been helping Fluttershy do some crash course history lessons." Applejack explains and Rarity nods "Indeed, poor dear can't handle reading about wars a lot."
"Plus this isn't really their thing I'm su-" Sunset started before she was cut off by Dash rushing past her and grabbing the duel disk on Spike's arm.
"Dude!! Is that the new duel disk from Industrial Illusions!" She practically squealed while looking at the piece of equipment.
Spike grinned. "Yeah, part of the trophy for winning Regionals, I get to be one of the first to have the newest Model. It's super light weight." He already had his deck in the system for the interview. The Disk itself was very much colored after his own scheme, with a purple base and green hollow emitter and lining.
"Rainbow!" Rarity said consolingly. "You can't just grab things that people are still wearing!" She admonished Rainbow Dash only for Pinkie Pie to join in. "Yeah! You can't just do stuff like that!" She said and in a blur she was next to Rainbow Dash, wearing Spike's necklace. "Or like this!"
Spike's eyes widened as he saw what she took . "Hey Pinkie!" There was a sudden burst of magic and a purple furred pup fell to the ground with a thud. "Ow...."
"Okay... Not the way I expected this to happen?" Sunset blinked. "But it is Pinkie..."
Rainbow, who was still holding onto the duel disk, looked surprised. "So it really is you!"
Rarity blinked as well "Oh my goodness, I knew you looked like Twilight's dog, but I was too shy to say anything and it turns out that it's true." She said in a bit of anguish.
Applejack patted her back with a grin. "Sad that your celebrity crush turned out to be a dog?" She asked and Rarity stood up ramrod straight. "No, no, no. You see... I... this is the person that likes our band so... ummm..." she tried to avoid saying what Applejack already knew.
Pinkie Pie meanwhile just tossed the necklace back onto Spike happily. "Sorry about that."
"It's fine... I figured something was gonna happen when Rainbow reached out to me right away on social media." He focused for a second and then returned to human form and stood up. "And I'm not a dog, in my world I'm a dragon. I'm just a dog here because of what ever cosmic reasoning..."
"Plus here he's still thought of as a human so that endorsement doesn't really suffer from what we know now." Sunset pointed out. "What I want to know what that is, and why you're here." She said pointing to the necklace.
Spike sighed. "Let's go somewhere else and then talk about it. Cool?"
The group moved themselves to the still empty food court, none of the food stores were even open yet, but plenty were still setting up for later that day and the pizza place was kind enough to serve them even while they were still setting up. "Alright, we changed spots and Sunset was wondering about that fancy necklace ya got there." Applejack continued.
He took it and held it out a bit for them to take a better look. "It's called the Red Moon Pearl, when I decided i was gonna start coming here more often I needed a way to be human while I am. So, doing what I normally do when I need magic to fix something.... I avoided Twilight altogether and went looking in the former castle of the two Pony sisters." He fiddled in his backpack for a moment and brought out a book. "Found this that pointed me to magical objects that could possibly help one disguise themselves. The Red Moon Pearl only works in other dimensions though."
"Huh... and you didn't go to Twilight because...?" Sunset asked, kind of confused that he went that route.
"Because I didn't want her to know I've been sneaking off to this world..." He grumbled laying his head down on the table.
Rainbow blinked while drinking something. "But why? I mean is it a bad thing that you're here."
"I doubt it... But I don't really do anything anymore back home."
"I mean... you sure?" Applejack asked, that sounded either really boring or a bit harsh.
"I've been doing this since y'alls Friendship games like 6 months ago. That whole thing my Twilight talked about with the time loops happened." He started to explain. "And, after that Starlight became her student and by proxy her assistant. I get asked to still do things... but it's usually minimal."
"So you felt like you aren't needed." Pinkie asked coming back with more pizza.
"Basically. And the last time I was here just wondering and Duel Monsters really caught my attention... I wanted to try it and I turned out to be really good." He grinned.
"Duh, you're like the best!" Rainbow shook him a bit causing him to laugh.
"Well that don't seem right." Applejack said with a bit of a frown. "But yer enjoying yourself here at least?" She asked hoping that was at least going well.
"Oh yeah, it's been a lot of fun and really interesting way of meeting people." Spike smiled leaning back. "And don't get me wrong, I'm not mad at Twi or Starlight for what's been happening. Just felt left out and a good deal bored. I guess the real reason why I don't want to tell her is cause I don't want her to worry." He scratched his nose and sighed. "The only reason she noticed I was gone and wrote to Sunset was because the last tournament ran longer than I expected..." He chuckled nervously.
Rarity smiled as she looked to him. "Darling, I know that Twilight can be a bit of a worry wart, but I feel like she'll understand." She said in supportive tone. Applejack nodded "If there's anything she's bound to have learned by now, it's trust."
"Yeah... I know. I still don't like making her worry. Plus..." He paused trying to think of the best way to say it.
"You want to stay here right?" Pinkie piped up with a grin, which caused Spike to sigh and nod.
"You know, I'm starting to think you're just really good a picking up on context clues rather than everyone just thinking that you randomly know the answer..." He said, which got a bigger grin from the pink haired girl.
Sunset smiled at that "I've read up on some of her friends, if she's willing to let Rainbow Dash join the Wonderbolts Academy, then I'm pretty sure she'll let you be a Duel Monster Champion over here. So long as you keep in touch at least." Sunset said reassuringly.
"Yeah... though she and the others haven't known each other as long as me and twi have. I mean she hatched me for Celestia's sake..." He grumbled.
"Hatched you?" Rainbow blinked.
"Dragon not dog." He pointed out and explained the exam where he was hatched.
Sunset, Rarity, and Applejack listened the whole time. It certainly was an incredible thing, a wave of rainbow energy supercharging Twilight's magic, the fact that Spike was a dragon still... no matter how many times they hear about the other world it's still surreal. Rarity got resolved though "Only more of a reason to ask her then, eventually something like this will happen, and I think she'd prefer if it were somewhere she knew herself as well."
Spike grumbled some stuff a about cursed logic and the like before nodding. "I know... I need to head home for something first before I do that though." He was about to get up when they all heard a squeaking sound coming from behind Spike.
Pinkie and Rainbow blinked as a light shined from where Spike's deck box was and out popped a little see through dragon lizard thing. With a flap of it's little wings in floated up and landed on Spikes head and gave a squeak before it's tongue bleped out. " Yeah yeah I know..." Spike responded seemingly too the squeak.
Sunset, Rarity, and Applejack all paused as they watched the small creature emerge.
Spike saw the weird looks and blinked. "What?"
"Sugarcube... ya got a tiny dragon on yer head, you don't get to ask us why we're confused." Applejack said plainly
"Wait.... You can see him!?" Spike asked shocked, even the little dragon looked confused by the statement.
"Yeah, I mean he's kind of ghosty. But we can see him just fine." Pinkie said popping up and poking at the dragon, only for her finger to go right through.
"Yeah... so umm... who is he?" Sunset felt the need to ask, he was cute but it was more than a bit odd.
The little dragon lifted off Spikes head and went over to Sunset cocking its head to the side and giving a meep. "He's Kidmodo dragon." Spike answered while reaching into his deck holder.
"Wait! Isn't that a duel monster card?" Rainbow asked really confused and still shocked.
Spike pulled out a card. "Yup, this one." He held out Kidmodo's card which held a perfect depiction of him. "And he's a duel monster spirit, that sort of found me like... I think it was four months ago?"
"Four months? Isn't that-" Rarity started and abruptly stopped, Applejack just got a brief smirk as she asked Spike. "I'm guessing that's around the time when you first started playing Duel Monsters?"
"Yeah just about, I was building my deck still and he shook his way out of a booster pack I was opening." The little guy flew back over and landed back on Spike's head. "He's been hanging around ever since, couldn't tell you why, but he's cute at least."
"He certainly is." Sunset said and Rarity and Applejack nodded
With a flash the little guy shot back into his card and Spike put him away. "Okay so... I guess I have to go talk to Twi now... After I stop by my place first anyway." He scratched his head still not comfortable with the idea.
The group went their separate ways after that. With Spike getting ready to speak with Twilight.
“Okay… Hold on.” Twilight started after the five that went to visit Spike explained what happened. They were all hanging out in the music room before classes started for the day. “You’re telling me, that the youngest pro duelist and new regional champion… Was the counterpart to my dog from Equestria…?” She asked even holding up said pup.
“Well I mean he’s actually a dragon back in his home so it’s not entirely the same.” Sunset explained laughing a bit at her confusion. “Dragon’s are usually much bigger fearful creatures with the fire breathing and all that. He just looked like a dog here for whatever reason. While our Spike is well… An actual dog that can just talk now. No offense.” She smiled to the pup.
“None taken.” the dog replied wagging his tail.
Twilight sighed. “Okay, that’s fair but it’s still really weird to think about.”
“Just like it’s weird to think about how your counterpart is a Pony Princess?” Rainbow grinned as Twilight blushed.
“R-right! I keep forgetting about that…” She admitted.
“Either way it’s been a while, so I’m not sure if he’s gonna be coming back or not.” Sunset shrugged as she leaned against the stares of the small stage in the room.
“Even still, it was nice getting to the bottom of that, even if the item he’s using to appear human is rather strange.” Rarity stated working on some kind of outfit off to the side. She was hoping that it wasn’t the last time they saw him. “Though I’m surprised you know about these things Twilight.”
“Are you kidding! I love Dual Monster!” She grinned getting really enthusiastic all of a sudden and catching a few of the girls off guard.
“Really…?” Applejack asked a bit surprised. “You don’t seem the type, Twi.”
Twilight nodded her head and grinned. “Oh yeah, I keep up with the competitions a lot and even play… Though I’m not very good, I couldn’t play against a pro like him or the Samurai.” She paused and dug around in her backpack for a moment before pulling out her deck box. “I run a spellcaster deck!”
Sunset slipped down her spot a bit as Rainbow rushed over and started looking through Twilights deck. “Not her too….” She mumbled and felt Applejack put a hand on her shoulder.
“At least she has fun?” She offered with a small chuckle.
“Ugh… Just promise that I won’t lose you and Rarity to the game too….” She grumbled seeing Pinkie getting all excited about the game.
Rarity paused in her stitching with wide eyes. “Oh you won’t have to worry about that, darling!” She said a bit quickly and blushing.
Before either of them could respond to her reaction a voice caught everyone’s attention. “Oh, here you girls are.” They all looked over to see Principal Celestia. “I’ve been looking for you, I was hoping you could do something for me.”
“Of course! What can we do for you?” Rarity asked quickly, hoping to get the two off of her.
“Well you see, we have a new student joining us today and I was hoping a few of you girls could show him around? I would have called you over the intercom but I wanted to keep this one a bit quiet…” She said with a small smile.
The girls all blinked before Sunset spoke up. “Okay, who is it?”
Celestia looked to the side and made motion for someone to come over. 6 pairs of eyes widened as a familiar boy walked into the doorway and waved.
“Yo.” Was all he said.
“This is Spike Emeraldfang. He’ll be joining our school as a Junior.” She smiled brightly. “From what I understand he is a bit famous so I didn’t want to make this an announcement over the intercom. Can I trust you girls to give him the tour of the school?”
After a moment Sunset was the first to recover. “O-of course Principal Celestia, you can count on us!” Her tone was chipper and she held a nervous smile but the Principal took the information in stride and turned to leave.
Once she was a bit further away Spike looked back to the group. “Hey gir-” He paused as five pairs of hands gripped him all at once and pulled “Oh god!” With that he was yanked into the music room by Sunset, Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie very forcefully and the doors slammed behind him.
Celestia looked back and blinked but shrugged, she trusted the girls to not do anything bad.
Back in the music room found Spike upside down and slammed into some instruments across the room and the five glaring at him from the door while backed against it. “Ow…. Was that really needed?” He grumbled while flipping himself back over and rubbing the bump on his head.
“What are you doing here?” Sunset glared, not having expected him to show up here in the first place.
“Well my Twilight said that if I was staying in this world I should go to school too, so I applied here.” Spike shrugged while dusting off his jacket. “It seemed like the right thing to do, I mean I know some people here and it’s close to the portal if I want to go visit.”
“You couldn’t have warned us first!? How many people know you’re here?” Sunset was going into freak out mode before Twilight placed hands on her shoulders.
“Sunset… Breath! You’re having a magical item freak out. This isn’t another Montage and the Mirror situation.” Twilight said trying to keep her from running into freak out mode any further.
Spike blinked at the mantra that Sunset started to say, something like ‘Live in the moment, don’t worry… Live in the moment, don’t worry…’ but shrugged.
“Well, there was the, “We’re Sad to See You Go” Party, the surprise Goodbye party right after that, and like three other different parties that Pinkie dragged me around to too keep herself and the others from getting too sad. At least that’s what I could tell, since they weren’t doing a great job of hiding their emotions at me leaving.” He said simply, a small smile to know how much they would. “I didn’t really have the chance to send word forward.”
“Okay… that’s fair.” Sunset sighed having finished calming down. “So no one knows you’re going to school here yet?”
He shook his head. “Nope, but that probably won’t last long if there are other fans of mine that go here… Or even of the Samurai. They’ve been pretty pissed since the Championship.”
The other girls blinked before looking at Rainbow and Twilight. Rainbow gave a dismissive blow of her bangs and a bit of a growl. “The Samurai’s fans are all pissed that Spike beat him in the championship. Sore losers.” She rolled her eyes.
Twilight adjusted her glasses and nodded. “Some of his more zealous fans have been coming up with theories and excuses to say that Spike cheated in the match, but can’t come up with anything that is actually against the rules.”
Spike shrugged. “That’s what fan’s do, they don’t want their idols to fall and will come up with reasons why it wasn’t their fault.”
“Still shouldn’t that Samurai guy be doing something to stop them?” Applejack asked not happy about the news.
“He’s trying, but they aren’t listening. Guy isn’t sore at all since it was a good match, he’s looking forward the next time we duel.” Spike grinned. “I can’t say I don’t feel the same.”
“Well whatever… Let’s just get the ‘tour’ done.” Sunset rolled her eyes. “Not like you don’t know this place well enough.”
“Hey now, It’s been a while, things could have changed.” Spike grinned sticking his hands in his pockets.
With that he was led around the school to all the important places within. As they went a few people did notice who he was and stopped him for an autograph or a picture, which he was more than happy to stop for. It was a fairly small amount of people that were fans of his or just fans in general of the game, but still enough to surprise the others.
“I see the tour is going well.” A voice came from down the hall a bit.
Twilight looked over and smiled. “Oh yes Vice Principal Luna! It seems he’s going to fit in well here.”
“Good to hear, we do pride ourselves on being inclusive with our students.” Luna smiled as Spike grinned back. “I do hope you won’t cause too many interruptions while going here though.”
“I’m sure there won’t be an-”
“EmeraldFang!” Came a yell from behind Luna causing them all to blink.
“Hopefully not too often…” He mumbled as Luna turned around while the others just sort of peered around her, including himself. “Yeeees?”
Standing there and glaring directly at Spike was Brawly Beats, the drummer for Flash’s band. “You really think you can just come to this school after what you did?”
“What exactly is it that he did?” Luna asked looking between the two as Spike came out from behind them.
“Well considering I’ve only just met this guy… I’d have to say he’s a fan of the Samurai and mad that I beat him in the Championship.” Spike shrugged, he could be wrong though.
“You cheated!” The teal haired drummer yelled.
“Scratch that, he’s one of the crazy fans.” Spike corrected himself. This wasn’t the only fan of Samurai he ran into at the school, but this was the first of the nut job ones. “And I didn’t cheat, we had a fair match and I just happened to have the right cards to win. That’s how the game works.”
Brawly glared. “Yeah right! I bet it actually got rigged so you could win cause they wanted The Samurai of the West out for some kid! You couldn’t actually have beat anyone.”
“Now now, no need for this kind of thing in the halls.” Luna started but Spike stepped forward.
“That right? So you think you could beat me than?” He asked looking confident.
“Any day of the week! You just name the time.”
In the back a few of the girls where face palming at what was starting, though Rainbow and Twilight looked a little excited.
“What do you say Vice-Principal, nothing wrong with a little friendly competition before class starts?” Spike smiled as he implied doing it now.
“This is hardly a friendly challenge Mr. Emeraldfang…” She mumbled but relented. “Fine, you can use the gym.”
“Preciate it.” Spike grinned as he turned to head that way. “Hope you brought your duel disk.” He called back to his opponent as he pulled his own out of his backpack.
As Brawly ran to get his and Rainbow along with Pinkie quickly ran off to join Spike, Sunset turned to Luna. “Are you sure about this Vice-Principal?”
Luna nodded. “It’s a good way to break the ice I suppose, and it is a harmless game from my understanding. I’m sure with Pinkie involved the whole school will be there to watch.”
“More than likely.” Applejack grinned shaking her head. “Guess that means we should go get seats before the good ones are gone huh?”
“Oh Yes! We should go no-I… I mean, of course Darling. I don’t want to be two high up in the bleachers…” She quickly quelled her excitement of seeing him duel again. Which didn’t go unnoticed by the others this time.
For now they let it go and headed off to the gym.
A few minutes later the Gym was full with some excited to see the duel and others a bit confused, but classes where being put off for now so why complain?
Down on the gym floor where the two opponents were standing across from each other preparing their decks and duel disks. Spike was standing at the stage while Brawly was near the gyms exit.
The principal and vice principal were sitting near each other on the right side bleachers. Celestia not looking to happy with the current event. Looking to her sister she turned that frustration into a voice. “This was something I was hoping to avoid, Luna. Why did it happen anyway?”
Her sister shrugged. “It seems like a harmless idea and honestly I want to see what all the fuss about the game is.” She admitted as she watched Spike shuffling his deck while looking at his opponent who was glaring back at him. “It’s obvious the game is popular, I just don’t quite get why.”
“So you used the opportunity as you had it…?” Celestia grumbled out while giving Luna a look.
“That would be what I said.” Luna grinned, only for it to grow when she heard her sister sigh.
A few bleachers up Sunset grumbled and leaned down with her head in her hands. “I can’t believe he hasn’t been here for even an hour, and he already got me to watch a stupid duel…”
“I have to say, it is a record for new students changing things up.” Applejack chimed in.
“True, the Dazzlings at least waited til lunch.” Rainbow giggled as she was waiting for the start. She, like many others, had her phone out ready to record the match.
Twilight herself was getting excited. “Still we have a rare opportunity to see a pro in action without having to pay to see the match! This is so exciting! I can’t wait to see what dragons he’s gonna play!”
The two duelists locked their decks into their duel disks and started up the Holo Projectors. Each drew five cards and declared the start. “Duel!”
Spike: 8000
Brawly: 8000
Brawly took a card from his hand and held it out. “I’ll start things off! You’re not the only one that knows how to use fusion monsters. I’m activating Polymerization and I’ll fuse together my Elemental Hero Avian and Burstinatrix.” The two monsters appeared on the field, the first being a green clad bird themed man with a large talon like weapon on his hand. The other was a woman with black and white hair dressed in a red fire themed suit. The two then began to form together. “And Summon Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!” Then energy from the fusion burst out and buff being burst forth, green clad design with one wing on his back, a massive red dragon head for a right arm and a tail. It landed before Brawly and crossed it’s arms
Elemental Hero Flame Wingman: ATK 2100
“And I’ll end my turn with a face down.” He grinned as the card appeared in the Spell/trap zone. “Top that.”
“Hold on,” Sunset blinked as she saw the monster actually appear out on the gym floor “you mean that these things actually show up?”
Rainbow leaned back and grinned. “Of course, you really think I would get this into it if it was just people putting cards out and yelling at each other at a distance?”
Sunset blushed. “Maybe… But how?”
“It’s their duel disk, each one has a holo projector in them that can bring the cards to life in a way.” Twilight explained still keeping an eye on the duel. She was impressed by the confidence that Brawly was showing while facing a Pro.
“They must be expensive then? That seems like some hi tech stuff…” Applejack stated, she was just as surprised as Sunset was.
“They used to be when they first came out, but over time with multiple companies finding ways to design them, the price dropped on certain models.” Rarity chimed in this time, not noticing the surprised looks from the other girls, excluding Rainbow. “Why Spikes and anyone who gets a custom one would be the most expensive.” Once she was done, she looked to the others and found them all staring at her oddly, making her blush. “S-so I’ve heard, I mean!” She added quickly.
“Not a bad start.” Spike smirked as he drew a card. “But let me show you how to really work with fusion! I activate my own Polymerization, and I’ll be fusing my Lord of Dragons and Divine Dragon Ragnarok!” Just as with Brawly’s turn the two monsters appeared on the field. The first was a regal looking man in dragon like armor and headress while the other was a long eastern style dragon that was a near pure white and flame like spine skales. The two quickly started to form together. “And Call forth King Dragun!” From the forming energy burst out a hybrid creature with the top half of Lord of dragons, who had also gained a more golden armor and blue wings. His lower body was a long serpentine dragon form and he held a dragon shaped septor in his hand.
King Dragun: Atk 2400
“And that’s only the start, thanks to Dragun’s special effect I can special summon a dragon monster from my hand once per turn. And I’ll be summoning Tyrant Dragon!” As he slapped the card down on his duel disk a pillar of flame erupted onto the field. From the pillar two copper like wings burst out followed by the head of a menacing looking dragon with a green gem embedded in its forehead. With a beat of its wings and a loud roar it’s full body was revealed and looked down on Brawly.
Tyrant Dragon: Atk 2900
Brawly’s eyes widened as he saw the two powerful dragon monsters now on the field, both dwarfing his monster in power. “But remember!” His attention was brought back to Spike.
“That was two special summonings!” He pulled another card from his hand. “I still have my normal summon for this turn! And I summon Mirage Dragon!” He slapped the card down and out on the field a new spot began to glow as a dragon with golden yellow scales and bluish yellow hair appeared. It’s body was also serpentine like and seemed to be fading in and out of existence, much like it’s name implied, it was as if it was only a mirage on the field.
Mirage Dragon: 1600
“Oh man! Do you see that wall he just set up!?” Rainbow was getting excited even leaning more forward and using Bulk Biceps head to keep from falling forward. Not that Bulk noticed. “He did all that on his first turn! That’s so cool!” She gushed while Applejack pulled her back into her seat.
“Oh yes, and it sets up a nice advantage for Spike.” Twilight smiled.
Sunset blinked. “Huh? How do you mean?” She asked, but before Twilight could answer the action on the field continued.
“Now let’s get this moving! King Dragun, attack his Flame Wingman! Fire Scourge!” The massive Half dragon held out his scepter and the mouth of the dragon on it began to glow. From its mouth a mass of flames erupted and went straight for Brawly’s monster.
“Not so fast I activate my Tra-” He froze, cause when he hit the button that would activate the trap card in his Spell/Trap zone, nothing happened. He watched as his Flame Wingman was destroyed, covering himself from the explosion, and taking 300 points of damage.
Brawly: 7700
Brawly looked back to the field with shock. “What didn’t my trap card activate!?”
“Because of Mirage Dragon’s special effect, as long as it’s on the field you can’t activate trap cards during my battle phase.” Spike grinned as Brawly gave a “What!?” in response.
“Now Tyrant Dragon and Mirage Dragon! Attack him directly!” Both dragons built up there attacks and loosed a pair of flame blasts on Brawly, who braced himself from the attack.
Brawly: 3200
He came out of the cover of his arms as a few holo flames lingered on the gym floor around him before fizzling out. “I set a card, and end my turn.” Spike smiled as a card appeared in his Spell/trap zone.
“Woah! How is he alright!?” Applejack yelled, as most people who’d never seen a duel before reacted to Brawly being covered in flames for a moment.
“It’s only a Hologram AJ, it doesn’t actually hurt anyone.” Rainbow pointed out through giggles at her reaction to the attack. “Most Duelists just play that up for the crowd to keep everyone enjoying the show.”
“O-oh…” She mumbled blushing at her outburst.
Brawly growled as he drew his card. “This isn’t over!” He looked at the new card he drew and decided to play it. “I activate the spell card Fusion sage, which lets me take a Polymerization from my deck and then shuffle.” He searched for the card and then placed the deck back in as it auto shuffled for him. “Next I activate Pot of Greed! I think you know what it does.” He said simply as he drew two cards. “Perfect! I activate Reinforcement Of the Army, which lets me add a level 4 or lower warrior type monster to my hand. And I’m picking Elemental hero Clayman.” He showed the card as it was spit out of his deck. “Now I’m fusing him with the Elemental Hero Sparkman in my hand.”
The two monsters appeared, one a massive rock golem looking being and the other an electric themed man with gold armor, and quickly formed together. “To summon Elemental hero Thunder Giant!” From their fusion came a massive man in golden armor and purple skin tight onesie with a lightning themed helmet.
Elemental hero Thunder Giant: Atk 2400
“Now his special effect activates! Once per turn I can target one of your monsters who’s original Atk Points are less then my Thunder Giant’s and destroy it! And I choose your Mirage dragon!” He threw his hand out and Thunder Giant began to head towards Mirage Dragon with it’s hand coursing with lightning. Looking at Spike, he didn’t understand why the Junior didn’t look worried as Thunder Giant went in to destroy his dragon, only for it to connect with the scepter of King Dragun stopping the attack in its tracks. “What!?”
“That would be King Dragun’s other effect.” Spike clarified. “As long as he remains on the field, you can’t target any of my dragon monsters with Spells, Traps, or Special effects.”
“Oh I see what you mean now, Twilight.” Sunset stated as she started to understand a bit. “So it gives him an advantage cause Dragun’s effect thing protects the other dragons, while Mirage stops the traps?”
Twilight smiled. “Correct! Though that doesn’t mean it’s perfect, Mirage Dragon still isn’t the strongest monster out, so…”
Brawly growled. “Fine! He may not be able to destroy Mirage Dragon with his effect, but he’s still stronger than it. Go, Voltic Thunder!” He ordered as the titanic man called lightning into his hands and sent it towards Mirage Dragon.
“I don’t think so! I’m activating my Trap card, Mirror force!” Spike hit a button on his duel disk and said card appeared before the attack. Once it slammed into it a shimmering wall of white light appeared and quickly reflected the attack back, destroying Thunder Giant.
“Oh Come on!” Brawly yelled before he grumbled. “I-I end my turn…”
Spike drew a card and gave a kind smile. “It’s been a good match man, but It’s time it was ended. King Dragun and Tyrant Dragon, take out the last of his Life Points!” With that order the two attacked, blasting away the remaining Life Points that Brawly had.
Brawly: 0
As the last one ticked down, the holograms faded away and their duel disks deactivated. Brawly had fallen to his knees in defeat as Spike went over and offered him a hand up. “You’re not bad for an amature, dude.” He grinned
Brawly looked up and took the offered hand to get back up. “Yeah well… I guess that’s what it’s like going up against a pro, I mean you took me down so fast!” He grumbled but nodded. “Also, sorry for accusing you of cheating or something during to the match Samurai…” He looked down for a moment until Spike punched him in the arm.
“Don’t sweat it, it lead to a good match and hey maybe I can help you improve that deck of yours.” Spike grinned.
That got Brawly to cheer up a bit as the two started talking with Brawly handing his deck over to the Junior, who started going through it to make some suggestions.
“Yes, thank you boys for a… Surprisingly interesting show, I have to say I enjoyed it a bit more than I expected.” Celestia stated as she walked up with Luna in tow. Everyone in the stands did cheer for the two. “But! Now we all need to get back to our normal schedules.” That earned a collective ‘Awwww’. “I know I know, but I’m sure this won’t be the last time we see one of these…. Duel?” She looked to Spike for clarification, who nodded. “Duels, in the future.”
With that said everyone went about their normal day and classes.
